


The Ripples in the River of Time

by Amara22



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Albus Dumbledore Bashing, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Master of Death Harry Potter, Time Travel Fix-It
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-30
Updated: 2018-11-12
Packaged: 2019-08-10 22:29:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16463579
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amara22/pseuds/Amara22
Summary: Death Fate and Magic give Harry and Hermione  a mission to save the world by changing time, getting rid of Dumbledore and saving Tom Riddle.





	1. Chapter 1

AN: I feel that every great HP fan has to write three main time travel stories, the one where Harry and friends travel back to the marauders era (A hammer to the time line), the alternate universe (A life relived) and the one where Harry goes back to when Riddle was in school to either adopt and raise him or fall in love with him. So to make my work original Hermione is going with him and she’s gonna be the one to fall in love with Tom so – Hermione x Tom pairing, leave suggestions for Harry because I don’t know. Leave me comments on what you think.

Chapter one

Death watched the realm of the living with an emotionless mask on his face, his sister Fate sat on his left and she shook her head, muttering under her breath unable to understand what the in name of the Ancients happened to make this such a complete and utter fuck up while his sister Magic wept in sorrow, anger and even helplessness on his right. This was never supposed to happen, how one man could utterly and completely destroy so many lives and destinies in the pursuit of his ‘greater good’ he would never understand. Then again he didn’t really understand mortals period and he was the one out of the three siblings that tried to keep out of the living realm, his creation of the deathly hallows was a one-time thing, he had been extremely bored after all. His sisters Fate and Magic loved to interfere in the mortal realm, they claimed it was fun, he didn’t really see the appeal.

The girl died first, he knew that would happen, she would die before she allowed anything to befall the boy, both his sisters favored the boy and he had to admit that in all his existence there had never been another mortal who was so accepting of death, of what he represented, who understood what he represented as much as that single child was able to do at such a young age. The boy had the heart of warrior, the blood of his favored and then he claimed Mastery of Death itself yet chose to try and relinquish the title even though he didn’t fully understand what it meant, he had to admit that he had been impressed and now that the pair had finally been released from the mortal realm, they could be brought up to them so that they may finally fix this mess.

Hermione Granger and Harry Potter appeared in what seemed to be a fancy hotel lobby, unable to really understand what they were doing here. Harry had been 22 years old when he died, while Hermione had been 23 and they had been murdered by Ron and Ginny Weasley, they had found out about the love potions on both of them and the plan that Dumbledore had set up so that they would marry the heroes of the wizarding world, die and leave them a fortune. It turned out that Hermione had actually been descended from a squib line of Rowena Ravenclaw and Dumbledore knew because he had been keeping an eye on the line to see if the descendants ever reawakened their magical line. There was a fortune that Ron was hoping to get now that they were dead. The plan went wrong because neither of them married yet and they found out too soon, Ron and Ginny panicked and killed them using the surprise to end it before anyone could find out what they had done.

“It is nice to meet you Mr. Potter and Miss. Granger, we weren’t sure if we would get you both but now that we have, you can only imagine how glad I am that you both died together.”

Hermione stared at the blonde haired, blue eyed woman in front of her. She wore a silver dress, that almost seemed to be made of liquid silver and honestly she was gorgeous but she didn’t understand.

“If we’re dead, then who are you and where are we?”

The woman poured some tea and gestured for them to sit down, “I am Fate, and we are currently waiting for Death and Magic, my siblings. We need your help but we had to wait for you to no longer be bound to the mortal realm, then we kind of stole your souls and brought you here because we needed to talk.”

Harry grimaced, this seemed too much like what happened with Kings Cross and Dumbledore after being hit by the killing curse during the Battle of Hogwarts.

“Stole us? Why would you need to talk to us? Asked Harry as a man appeared, dressed in a black suit, he was pale, almost ghost looking and his eyes were two black pools of obsidian, his hair was pitch black and was tied at the nape of neck. Everything about him screamed power but Harry simply sighed and smiled at who he knew was Death.

“Hello Death, how much longer for your sister to join us?” asked Harry and Hermione raised an eyebrow and shrugged. She was used to weird things like this happening by now, if Harry wasn’t afraid then Hermione had no reason to worry, she settled onto the sofa and took a cup of tea.

Hermione trusted her brothers instincts, if he were being threatened or in danger then he would know but since they weren’t in immediate danger she settled down and waited for more information.

“I am here my child.”

The woman had purple eyes and chestnut brown hair but she wasn’t the same as the others, Death was as perfect as ever but Fate as beautiful as she was had wrinkles around her eyes, she looked tired but Magic looked drained, finished, she was almost as pale as Death and she had way more winkles than Fate, she looked like an old woman, one that didn’t have much time left.

The siblings helped Magic settle and Death began to talk, “This will be a long explanation so just listen, questions at the end. When this world was born it had been a balanced, where there was life, there was Fate, with life comes Death, and then came Magic. She blessed the mortals and in return they celebrated her, you mortals call it the Old Ways, pureblood religion, then you separated magic into light and dark and the problems began.

Magic cannot be separated into dark and light, it just is, a gift and tool given to the people to do with as they wished, you judged the magic not the people and restrictions were placed and so magic began to punish those who no longer celebrated her, squibs were born, and then she tried to grow her population, she blessed worthy muggles with her gift, new rich and powerful magic coursed through their veins and their potential was unlimited, you called them muggleborns and insisted that their blood was dirty and impure when they didn’t assimilate to the religions and refused to allow them to influence the society.

Magic is dying, you are passing on your magic from one generation to the next without refreshing it or imbuing the new blood into your lines and as such magic is dying, more squibs are being born, less powerful witches and wizards are being born, less magicals are being born period and soon magic will die and my sister will die, once she goes the balance of the population will be offset, without magic, the Earth will begin to decay and die, we, the representations of Fate, Death and Magic will all fade.”

Harry nodded his head, he learned all about that from the Black library, the rituals were used to refresh magic and keep it strong, new blood from muggleborns could lead to new lines or empower the old ones, all Half-bloods were powerful or had rare gifts, Dumbledore, Riddle, Tonks even Snape and he was powerful as well but that didn’t answer the question to why they were brought here.

Fate knowing what they were thinking because they had tried to warn the population and got accused of being the Dark Lord’s, they had all but given up by the time they found out about the betrayal.

“You are here because you need to know that this was never meant to happen. Harry Potter and Tom Riddle were favored by Magic and by me. We were trying to set things right but every time we tried, the one that started all this got caught in the middle, he interfered where he didn’t belong and he stole what did not belong to him. Albus Dumbledore shaped the world in his image of the ‘greater good’ and he ruined everything.

He helped two Dark Lords rise, he kept the population dumbed down, he all but ordered a witch hunt on anything that he believed would be Dark or even grey and he started before Riddle even made it to Hogwarts and then he defeated Gellert and the world saw him as a savior, he became untouchable and that must be undone.”

Hermione nearly spat out her tea, “Undone? You’re talking about time travel?”

Magic nodded weakly and Death spoke for her, “In the year 1937, Dumbledore got the position as Deputy Headmaster but he also took over many of the Headmasters duties as the man was so old and at the time prone to sickness. He managed to get several classes removed from the curriculum which included Enchanting, Warding and Alchemy, they were offered at the end of fifth year after the students got their marks and depending on the grades could study those subjects as well. He then started dumbing down the curriculum and then he became the Headmaster and you know what Hogwarts became in the end, how little actual magic was taught.

He met Tom Riddle and immediately distrusted him and carefully encouraged his path into becoming a Dark Lord which would rise in the next 30 or so years and he could defeat him as well, making him the only person to defeat two Dark Lords that was his goal. In 1945, he defeated his ex-lover Gellert and became a Hero and then he got rid of everything that he didn’t like or didn’t want.

We cannot allow him to gain that much power and ruin the balance of power as such we used a loop hole. The fact that Mr. Potter here has collected the Hallows makes him the Master of Death as such I cannot reap his soul but we can make a deal. The three of us can send you back to before Dumbledore had all this power, if you can stop him and save Riddle from the monster he is becoming then you can reshape Britain, saving everyone that Dumbledore got killed before they were supposed to. You have to defeat Gellert as well and can only do so in the year 1943-1945, those are the years that he interfered in Britain, you cannot interfere in that blood war until then or you will upset the balance.”

Harry was nodding along, understanding where Death was coming from and what he was trying to do but, “What about the timeline?” asked Hermione.

“Everything I’ve read says that bad things happen to wizards who mess with time, so what will happen to us?” she asked again.

Death shook his head, “That rule only applies if you go using your magical means but you will go with our blessing. You will not be Harry Potter and Hermione Granger, we are going to craft you both new bodies, with different bloodlines, you will essentially have no connection to the ancestors of the people that you once knew.”

“What will happen if we say no?” asked Harry and Death shrugged.

“You may both move on if you wish too, as my Master you can command me to let you die and you will.”

Hermione bit her lip and Harry sighed, “You want to go.”

She smiled at him and rolled her eyes, “Don’t act like you don’t want to ruin Dumbledore either, besides we failed the first time we tried but we can really make a difference here.”

Harry nodded, “We need a plan.”

“We could adopt Riddle, you’re the one who said that his problem was that he never had anyone, we can raise him to be better.”

Harry nodded but at the same time, he didn’t think that was enough, “We need one of us to be the same age as he is, we cannot leave him alone in Hogwarts, we need someone to keep an eye on him as well as act as his confidant, someone to stay by his side. He needs more than just a parent, he also needs a friend.”

Hermione turned to Death, “Can you make me the same age as he is?”

Death nodded but Harry protested, “Wouldn’t it be better if I were deaged, I know him best and I am supposed to be his equal?”

Hermione shook her head, “There are many reasons to why it should be me and not you Harry. You know him too well, you wouldn’t just be able to act like his friend you know too much. I am intelligent and know what he is capable of, I can keep an eye on him and challenge him but you can represent what he should aim to be. He needs a good role model someone as powerful as he is and to see how one can use their power, you can teach him more. Besides all that, it isn’t a good time period for a single woman, especially if we want to challenge Dumbledore. You can mess him up politically while I keep an eye on Tom and steer him in the right direction. A single man with a younger sister and a ward, no one would bat an eyelash but they would disapprove of a woman.”

Fate nodded, “The girl is correct, we were not going to send her with you however we were able to bring her here because she died with you, at the same time. You need to be able to focus on hampering Dumbledore and his ascent to power and you cannot do that if you’re in Hogwarts keeping an eye on Tom and steering him in the right direction, the one he was meant to travel. He could have revolutionized the Ministry and he was supposed too but he was unable to do so thanks to Dumbledore and his interference. We wanted her to come with you because we knew that you would need help, it would be nearly impossible to stop Dumbledore and guide Riddle at the same time, the boy needs a lot of attention. Hermione can help and you should allow her to do so.”

Harry and Hermione smiled at each other and then they both nodded, there was a bright light and they both looked into the mirror that Death had conjured for them to see what their new bodies looked like.

Harry was taller, he was about 6’ tall and his eyes were still emerald green. His hair was still pitch black but it was longer, tied at the nape of his neck, the glasses were gone and his cheekbones were higher and lips were fuller. He had an aristocratic face kind of reminding him of Riddle, they could pass for father and son he supposed or brothers. He didn’t have the looks of a Potter anymore. He seemed to be around the age of 21 or 22, the age hadn’t changed, but his build had filled out more, broader shoulders, less scars but he still kept his seekers build, he smiled, he liked the new look.

Hermione was tiny, that was the first thing she realized, her long hair reached her waist in sleek, full curls and her hair and eyes matched Harry’s. Her face was filled with delicate features but it was obvious that they were related and that she would grow up beautiful, she was also free of her scars.

Fate smiled at them, “You will appear in Gringotts, where you will both take a blood test and then decide what to do from there. Good bye and Good luck.”

When they opened their eyes, Harry found himself sitting in front of goblin by the name of Bloodfang. He was wearing trousers and a button down shirt with a plain black robe over it, while Hermione was wearing a muggle dress, she looked kind of cute.

He took the ceremonial knife and allowed three drops of blood to touch the parchment, before vanishing the rest and healing his hand.

He watched the parchment in fascination, missing the look of surprise and respect that passed in the eyes on the goblin when he did so. The blood was finally forming words on the parchment.

Name Hadrian Hades Peverell

Father Jamison Peverell

Mother Lillian Peverell- nee Ravenclaw (squib born)

Blood type- Half-blood

Heir to:

Gryffindor

Peverell

Emyrs

Living Relatives- Hermione Hel Peverell, Tom Marvolo Riddle

The list went on to mention which vaults were his and what was inside but the goblin nearly fell out of his chair in shock. Three of the ancient richest vaults were now active, that is if the rings accepted him. He shouted out for them to bring the lordship rings.

He watched as each of the rings accepted the wizard in front of him and then he spoke once more, “Congratulations you are now Lord of the Ancient Most Imperial House of Gryffindor, Lord of the Ancient Most Imperial House of Emyrs, Lord to the Ancient Most Noble House of Peverell.”

He gestured for the girl to so her test and her brother healed her and vanished her blood.

Name Hermione Hel Peverell

Father Jamison Peverell

Mother Lillian Peverell- nee Ravenclaw (squib born)

Blood type- Half-blood

Heir to:

Ravenclaw

Le Fay

His eyes nearly bugged out of his head when reading the results, five ancient and noble lines between the two siblings. Both Ravenclaw and Le Fay were maternal houses, passing only to women so her brother couldn’t inherit it.

He watched the wizard with fire in his eyes, they would try to force him to marry her off to them and he immediately had them check for any marriage contracts when seeing none, he created a magical binding agreement that anyone who tried to force her under any compulsions would end up dying as the backlash was so great. He called for her heir rings to be brought up and she placed them on her fingers insuring that she would have full protections and then she named her brother her proxy so that he could vote in her chairs and then they left, after taking a list of properties and port keying to Peverell manor.

Unknown to the siblings who were currently planning and plotting, the Wizengamot was in full session with several reporters seated inside when five of the Ancient chairs which had sat empty for several centuries suddenly decided to light up. Several Lords and Ladies gasped out in pure shock and once order had fallen Lord Burke asked, “Is this true? Can there be any mistake?”

Several reporters were taking out pictures and writing away, trying to the reactions of everyone, the Chief Warlock, Kensington Shacklebolt, an old man of about 78 years old with a long career in politics and was well known were being neutral, answered him.

“The seats are tied through blood and magic, these Houses now have a Lord or Lady which has taken a blood test and been administered their family rings. Five Ancient families have risen from what we believed to be extinction.”

There was silence before utter and complete chaos over took the room once more and several people hoped that the Lordships were split because if one person had that many votes then they owned the Wizengamot and probably Hogwarts since the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw heir had claimed their titles.

There was a new player in the game one that held a lot of power and everyone wanted an alliance.

 


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter two

One week had passed since they had come back and Hermione was ready to throw something out the window. The first thing they had done was take stock of Peverell Manor, dealt with the excited and crying house elves who when Hermione tried to free them explained that without the connection to a magical family, house elves would die. They were a race born because they had rebelled against the High Elves and were punished for it, part of the punishment was to need an anchor to their magic and it could not be undone, they were happy to serve and the ‘Little Mistress’ should allow them to do so. She was a little bit horrified with the punishment and angry with herself for trying to free them for so long and that no one ever bothered to tell her that in first place. It just showed how little information was available about the magical world if Hogwarts didn’t teach it.

Hadrian pointed her to several books on pureblood etiquette, there had been several in the Black library but they had been more interested in learning how the pureblood religion worked and how politics worked than etiquette. When she thought back to the few years that they had lived after the final battle she realized that it wasn’t really all that much time. Hadrian had been 17 when he faced Voldemort and she was 18 due to the use of the time turner, and they were dead about five years later. Hadrian used the first six months after the war to help clean up the mess that was magical Britain and then he locked himself away in the Black house for another six months. He learned things like runes, arithmancy and DADA and then he was forced to come out of isolation due to the fact that the ‘Light’ was now after anyone and anything even associated with the dark.

She had been trying to help get the ministry back on track and when she found out what they were doing they were trying to cause another war, the Dark had been extreme and now it was the so called light that decided to lose all their damn common sense. She begged Hadrian to stand against them, to help shape the world hoping they would listen to their savior and they ended up, learning about pureblood culture and religion. It had been a little bit of a bitter pill to swallow that muggleborns were technically less powerful than purebloods but that was only because purebloods were able to harness family magic and certain magics were only associated with bloodlines. In the terms of raw magical power, they were a match but Hogwarts didn’t teach purebloods how to hone their blood based skills. 

She had to admit that it wasn’t fair, but when marrying muggleborns the children born had access to more power and bloodline abilities showed up more often so marrying other purebloods so that muggle culture didn’t ruin their beliefs weren’t helping. She also theorized that if two muggleborns started their own magical line then they could possibly create a new type of magic or create their own family magics. The older magical lines needed new magic and fresh blood and the purebloods family magics were weakening due to the inbreeding and the insanity. She was sure, that this generation was the last time that the Lords and Ladies could technically be called sane, because the people in Riddle’s generation and their children were bat shit insane, unstable and just plain stupid. 

Hadrian had dealt with politics for only two years however Fleur had refused to have him bumbling around like a fool and taught him as much as she could. After the two years of being called the next Dark Lord they had both given up on trying to show people that their intolerance was going to doom the country and just let them be. It was around then that they were harassed by Ginny and Ron and the love potions started again and she couldn’t remember what happened afterwards but she knew that Hadrian went back to studying magic when he wasn’t being Ginny’s slave. She had taught him and he had taught her until they were murdered in cold blood by someone they once called friend.

Now, they needed to survive in a time where Hadrian needed to better than Dumbledore at politics and there were even more people to deal with since most of the pureblood families were still alive so he needed to get caught up on the political climate, which side had the most votes and where were the alliances and who should he be aligning himself with, he needed several lessons and quickly from someone who knew what was happening in this time period.

He found the portrait of Anthony Peverell in his study and the man was a genius with politics, he started hammering the new Lord Peverell with everything he needed to know while Hermione learned how to be the perfect Lady from the portrait of a deceased Lady Peverell, it was annoying and strict and neither of them liked it but since they already knew occlumency they processed the lessons quickly and easily, honestly they were both just glad when that was finally over and done with.

In between the lessons, they had restored the manor, using the Peverell vault they had the goblins come in and fix everything up and ward the manor again for them, then the house elves refurnished the entire house with everything they would ever need and more. They also had set up a room for Tom as soon as they could bloody well get to him since they needed to sort themselves out first. They couldn’t bring him home when the house wasn’t ready yet.

They also learned it was the year 1934, Tom was currently five years old and Dumbledore was just another Professor in the school, not yet the deputy headmaster. When they realized that the whole world knew that their houses were now active Hadrian cursed and threw a hex at a window shattering it. He had hoped to remain anonymous for a few more weeks and now he was going to have to rush to get everything in order. He was planning on taking control of Hogwarts and updating the curriculum even more and now he was going to have to get ready even faster. He couldn’t give anyone the impression of weakness, he needed to seem like he knew what he was doing and that he would destroy anyone who got in his way or tried to harm his family, he needed to build a good reputation and make a good first impression.

Another four days later, they were finally ready to bring home Tom. Hermione knew that even as a child Tom was already guarded and jaded, she needed to make a good impression and so she needed to look wealthy. All his life Tom Riddle had punished those who were wealthier than he was and those who had taunted his poverty, he had dreamed of being an important man who people would respect as such they needed to give of the vibe of being those cold, wealthy and untouchable, everything that he had once hoped to be. Hadrian told her once that he only started to fear death when the war picked up and they were going to take him away before he got obsessed with that idea.

She picked out a deep blue dress with white flowers in lace intricately designed on it and slipped on her wrist length white gloves. She called for Tabby, her own personal elf, who picked up a white ribbon and styled her hair with braids. She looked adorable and rich, she wore the Peverell rose, a white gold pendant with red rubies for petals, it was her family’s coat of arms and Hadrian wore his as a locket, it reminded her of the Slytherin locket only less chunky.

Hadrian wore an expensive muggle suit with polished shoes and he too wore leather gloves. His hair was tied at the nape of his neck and he looked a little older than his supposed 22 years of age but then again he wore an aura of power, like he had once worn deaths cloak.

Hermione took his arm and they apparated to a quiet alley, just outside of Wool’s orphanage. Hermione folded her hands and walked next to her brother, while the muggles looked curiously at the pair. It was extremely obvious that they were wealthy but Hadrian didn’t care for the stares, he was too busy being appalled by the state of the orphanage. The war hadn’t even hit its worst point, hell it hadn’t even started, if he remembered right the war was during 1939-1945, it was 1934, still many years before the poverty could hit and the place still needed to be closed down, hell he had half a mind to burn it down himself, he wouldn’t even let an animal live in such conditions.

Everything was dirty, it smelled dank almost like something was rotting somewhere, the paint was peeling, the clothes of the children weren’t the best, kind of what Dudley’s cast offs had once looked like on him. It wasn’t hard to imagine Tom being bitter and angry in a place like this.

He didn’t even say anything, not really, he just hit the woman with a couple of memory charms and had her fetch Tom. He didn’t want to even hear her speak, as far as she knew the boy had been adopted years ago, just in case anyone asked. He even filled in the paperwork of a French couple adopting the boy, making it harder for Dumbledore to track him down if he ever tried to figure out where Hadrian had gotten him from. He didn’t want anyone associating this place with his ward, and he didn’t want Dumbledore sticking his nose where it didn’t belong.

When the boy walked inside, he peered at them curiously, he hadn’t perfected the angel look, not yet and if remembered correctly he only started using magic to hurt people around the age of 7 years old. His eyes showed his intelligence and also his wariness, he had not yet learned to hide his emotions completely because once he saw the well-dressed man and the young girl, he tried to smile brightly. 

He was still jaded, anyone who lived in poverty would always be changed by that but he wasn’t insane and a sociopath and he hadn’t hurt anyone not yet at least and this was something they could work with. The boys mind was still unprotected, he hated this place and felt nothing to anyone here but he didn’t hate, no, not yet and so long as he didn’t hate and wasn’t angry they had less to deal with than they expected. 

He just didn’t care for the people here mainly because none of them ever cared about him, that was something else that Hadrian could understand, he felt nothing towards the Dursley’s at the end, not hatred or anger, he said he forgave them and then he just didn’t care, all he wanted to do was forget them and everything associated with them.

“Hello Tom, my name is Hadrian and I am a relative of yours. I came to see if you wanted to come live with me. This is my sister Hermione.”

Hermione smiled at him and greeted him warmly but his eyes narrowed in suspicion and Hadrian almost smiled at the reaction, a guarded child, “Related how?”

Hadrian chuckled, “I admit it isn’t a close relation, my fathers mother and your mothers father were brother and sister. We’re second cousins or so but I cannot just leave you here after all you are special Tom, you can do things that the others cannot and well my sister and I we are like you, and you belong with your own kind.”

Hadrian watched as his eyes glowed with power and happiness as he nodded that he wanted to go with. Hadrian took Tom by the hand and Hermione walked next to him and they left, once they turned down the alley, he told Tom to hold his breath and activated the Port key which took them to Peverell manor. Tom glared at them when he landed before he took in the grandeur of the place and looked around in astonishment but before he could reply Hadrian spoke, “This is Peverell manor, our home and it is now yours as well. I am sure you have many questions but what just happened was called a port key, we use it as a form of magcial transportation. Hermione will take you to your room where you will bath and dress then you can come have lunch where we will answer your questions.”

Hadrian hurried off and Hermione huffed, “Do excuse him, he is under a lot of pressure and must perform extremely well at the next meeting. We hoped to come to you sooner as we have only been in Britain for two weeks but we had a hard time locating you.”

Once Tom was left alone, he allowed his thoughts to spin out of control, the man and the girl looked a lot like him but their eyes were green and his eyes were blue. He could pass for their brother but to hear that not only are they cousins but that magic exists was a bit overwhelming. He had always been a strange child and weird things happened all around him all the time but he never knew why until they came and told him. He always knew he was special and now he had the proof. He wondered into the bathroom that was probably bigger than his old room and found a bath already prepared for him so he did as he was told. He wanted more information and he was promised some once he bathed and changed.

He opened the door to try and figure out where he was supposed to go next and saw Hermione coming down the hall. When she saw him she smiled at him, “This is the family part of the manor. Hadrian’s room is that one.” She said pointing at the large white door with gold handles at the end of the hall. A few doors down she pointed to a white door with blue handles, “This is my room.” And when he looked at the door to his room he saw that his was white, with green handles on the door.

As they walked down to the dining room, she pointed out markings so that he would be able to find his way there on his own and once they reached she said, “I’ll take you on a full tour of the place later, but for now if you can figure out your way around this part of the manor then you will be alright. We are mainly here all the time but when we have social obligations and guests then we open the guest wing.”

Once they were all seated, Tom watched Hermione carefully, selecting the same silverware that she used when they were eating and he didn’t notice Hadrian hiding a smile. The broth was probably the most delicious thing he ever tasted, most of the food that was given in the orphanage was bland and didn’t have much of a taste so this was a first for him.

Hadrian cleared his throat and smiled gently at him and spoke, “You are a wizard Tom which means that you are capable of doing magic. We have our own society hidden from the eyes of the muggles which means non-magical people. Our society has its own flaws and its own prejudice however there are many good things about this world.”

He went on to explain that children go to Hogwarts and that they learn how to control their magic in the school and he explained about Grindelwald and the blood war that was taking place.

“You Tom are part of the Gaunt line, your mothers name was Merope Gaunt and she was a witch, my grandmother was a Gaunt before she got married. The Gaunts were descended from Salazar Slytherin, one of the founders of Hogwarts and he believed in blood purity, however blood purity is a bunch of nonsense that will see our society die before the next century, Riddle is not a wizarding name as such your father was probably a muggle just like us you are a half-blood. Our mother came was born to a long line of squibs, magical parents with a non-magical child, our mother believed she was a muggleborn as such we are also classified as half-bloods.”

Hadrian explained inbreeding and what happened to the magical lines that were too full of inbreeding and why muggleborns were less accepted because they didn’t understand the magical traditions to which the boy simply asked, “Then why don’t they teach the muggleborns the traditions in school?”

Hadrian ruffled his hair and looked at him with pride when he asked that question and replied, “The magical world is staunch in their traditions unlike the muggle world which constantly advances quickly due to the fact that muggles don’t live very long, they rush to surpass their mentors with new inventions and advances every five to ten years, the magical world while ahead in many ways doesn’t advance as fast, they don’t like change or compromise and I say to hell with them all. We have the potential to be the greatest school of magic and community in the entire world and I will fight to ensure that happens.”

Hadrian gave him the bare basics of almost everything that he learned about the magical world and then he sent him off with Hermione to explore and find the library explaining that if he had questions then he may come and ask him but he had to prepare for a Wizengamot meeting where he would be introducing himself into society.

He found several books of History of Magic and Hadrian had already gone through the library ensuring that only the facts were written in the books that he had, he refused to lie to the boy, that would only end up backfiring on him when he was older. He needed to know the truth if he were to change the world and he needed to understand it. 

Hermione answered many of his questions on creatures such as Veela, vampires and werewolves explaining that there was nothing wrong with them but fear of what is not understood leads to things like this happening because purebloods hold all the power. She explained how half-bloods were more powerful and that purebloods did have a point, they had blood based abilities that Hogwarts didn’t teach them because it was discrimination against muggleborns, but more than half the school was made up of purebloods and half-bloods. She explained that because they were the founders heirs they had the power to remove the Headmaster from the school and decide how it should be run and that Hadrian was planning on taking an active role in the running of the school.

“Is he going to fire the Headmaster?” asked Tom and Hermione shook her head.

“The deputy Headmistress has wanted to retire for a while now, so Hadrian is going to take her place.” She replied and then she got an idea on how to plant some ideas in his head early on how to win people to his side.

“Hadrian is entitled to do whatever he wants with the school as he holds two founder seats and without the other heirs to oppose him no one can say anything but that would cause backlash from the public. They would hate him and try to destroy him if he tried to force them or intimidate them through fear. Its better that they agree with him, that they like him and believe that they also get a say in the changes in the school so that they feel like they have a bit on control. It is their children and their heirs who will attend and we want the parents to be happy that the children are going to the school, not be trying to ruin it. Even though we are titled, that does not mean we can use that as an excuse to do whatever we want, no one can just demand what they want, it must be earned.”

Tom didn’t really understand why she told him all that but he did admit that trying to demand that everything just be handed over to them without proof that he could bear the burden did make a lot of sense and that they had a point and probably knew what they were doing when it came to politics but he was more interested in learning more about the magical world.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter three

Tom Riddle had been extremely busy these last two weeks and he spent most of his time in the library with Hermione and he shared some time with Hadrian during lunches and dinner. It would only be a few days later when he read the paper would he truly understand the amount of power that his adoptive brother had in the magical world. Hadrian had insisted that Tom refer to him as his brother, he was too young to be a father and he wasn’t comfortable trying to take such a large role, brother was something he was good at, Hermione said that he was at least.

His entrance into society had been carefully planned since his arrival here and it was according to the papers done effortlessly and elegantly. He had refused to align his seats until he knew more about the political climate here, but he also announced his decision to take an active interest in Hogwarts. It was well known that the deputy headmistress and DADA professor was going to be retiring at the end of this year as such he had applied for the position and finally allowed Headmaster Dippet to retire.

The only reason the man never did so before was because there was no one else on staff who was currently able to take his place, the position of Headmaster was a hard one to earn and no one had yet to fulfill the role however as the heir to two Founders he immediately bypassed the entire system and got the job. He also had masteries in DADA, Runes and Transfiguration and was well qualified for the job and he assured everyone that he would not be making any changes to the school in the next year. He wanted to learn about the school and it its students before he made any changes. That was something that had many people breathing a sigh of relief.

Hadrian was willing to learn about their traditions before he made any changes and he was willing to keep the board of governors and listen to their advice something that he didn’t have to do, he had the power to disband the board entirely and do whatever he wanted to the school, for now all he wanted to do was give Dippet, a tired old man a chance to spend his time with his family in retirement while he learned about the political climate and the people of Britain, it was after all his birth country and he had been studying aboard for a long time.

He would be flooing to the school and back as he had to worry about his ward and sister, it was not required for the teachers to remain in school unless they had other duties. Hadrian was already looking to hire a muggleborn woman as a nanny, someone qualified to teach muggle subjects as well for Tom and Hermione. He knew that while he could leave them at home alone and Hermione could take care of everything it wouldn’t look good for him to leave two five year olds alone all day.

He would have sent them to muggle school but he didn’t think that the muggle world was the best place for Tom right now. He had six years before he went to Hogwarts and he would need a way to keep his mind occupied without teaching him the entire Hogwarts curriculum. Hermione was digging through subjects trying to find things that they could teach him before Hogwarts that wouldn’t render him bored to tears, things that they didn’t teach in Hogwarts, maybe languages and in depth culture on creatures.

Hadrian burst into the room where he and Hermione had been debating about Veela and their instincts. Britain had no laws which protected them and Hermione was busy listing everything that was wrong with the system and Tom was trying to come up with ways to fix the problems without stepping on the toes of purebloods. He felt like they just lacked common sense, Hermione just reminded him that they were just ignorant, they needed to be presented the facts in a way that didn’t threaten their little world and Hadrian had no problem blowing through all their social expectations.

“I was finally able to organize an inheritance test for Tom.” Muttered Hadrian while he looked through the research that Hermione and Tom managed to come up with and he tried to resist rolling his eyes, honestly with Hermione by his side Tom Riddle was going to rule the bloody world and he tried not to grimace at the picture that painted because he was going to start introducing a fairer more neutral view on all magical creatures with the research that came from bloody five year olds and their pet projects.

“Why would I need an inheritance test?” asked Tom.

“You mothers line was once very prominent, you may be entitled to something and be able to claim a family name. I could give you mine but I thought you would rather have what is yours by right of blood and as a man, you may be able to revive a previously thought to be dead line, most of the ancient houses are paternal, the ones that are maternal are mainly Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Le Fay.” Explained Hermione.

He already knew about houses and how they were passed down and he couldn’t help but be grateful that while Hadrian and Hermione were willing to give him their family name, they also wanted to him to have his own name and family, they wanted him to have what belonged to him.

Tom was respectful to the goblins just like Hadrian taught him and then he watched in fascination as his blood took the form of words while making careful note of the look of respect that came from vanishing the extra blood on the knife in the eyes of the globin.

Name Tom Marvolo Riddle

Father Tom Riddle 

Mother Merope Riddle nee Gaunt

Blood type - Half-blood 

Heir to

Slytherin

Living Relatives- Hadrian Hades Peverell, Hermione Hel Peverell

“You are allowed to change your name once you claim your heir ring, many do not, however when reviving lines thought dead, some prefer to take the family name or drop a part of their name that they do not wish to keep anymore. I thought since you do not carry the Peverell name you would like to use the name Anubis, it was the middle name of my father and Hermione and I are named after incantations of death.” Explained Hadrian as Bloodfang went to collect the heir ring.

“Why would you be named after incantations of death?” asked Tom.

Hermione giggled and Hadrian smiled at him gently, “The Peverell family is said to have a strange relationship with death besides there is nothing to fear, dying is as easy as falling asleep and just as painful. It is a fact of life, time is precious because it will one day run out so we must make the most of what we have and the truth is there is nothing but peace and love in the afterlife and so there is nothing to be afraid of, death cannot be conquered and a Peverell well we cannot be stopped by anything other than death.”

Tom didn’t really understand everything that he said but he did understand that Hadrian wanted him to be part of their family and this was his way of ensuring that happened. He never really liked that name anyway so when he put the ring on his hand he declared, “I, Marvolo Anubis Slytherin, heir to the Ancient Most Imperial House of Slytherin declare Hadrian Hades Peverell my proxy.”

Hermione grinned in victory, there would never be a Lord Voldemort ever again because Tom had completely cast aside his fathers name now before he became anymore obsessed with his parents and blood purity and any of that nonsense. He was also now guaranteed power and a place in society.

In the previous time line he had destroyed his soul in his fifth year before he turned 15 years old and according to the law orphans may only do an inheritance test when they are 15 years of age. Lord’s were only able to sit in the Wizengamot by the age of 15 and orphans without anyone to declare as their proxy was seen as impressionable, it would be easy for someone to realize that a child without anyone to take care of them and teach them could be taken advantage of and the power that they wielded could have been used to further other peoples greed as such they were only able to be tested after the age of fifteen. 

Hermione wasn’t sure if he had done the test but even if he had the ring would have rejected him as his soul was mangled and the family magic would not have been able to settle on him. The only reason he was able to get the ring now was because he had his guardians permission to do so and he was going to be his proxy. It was traditional for the heir to be given their ring on their 11th birthday or when they got their Hogwarts acceptance letter however Hadrian wasn’t going to take the chance of Dumbledore or anyone else finding out about Marvolo and trying to control him. This also gave him three founder seats until Marvolo was of age which made it nearly impossible for anyone to deny him his rights to castle.

Hadrian was already going through the curriculum and Hermione was insisting that muggle studies became a core class this year instead of next year however that would interfere with his promise of not changing things in the school just yet. Hermione merely rolled her eyes and said, “You promised no major changes, this is something that the first and second years would have to worry about, without interfering with the older students, besides Amon Shafiq was starting Hogwarts this year and he got his entire line killed when he joined up with Grindelwald.

It wasn’t a very well-known fact as the man he would grow up to become was an orphan. His mother died during childbirth and his father died due to illness when he was 8 years old. He lived with his maternal grandmother and was sorted into Ravenclaw. He somehow managed to get caught up with Gellert and ended up dead, which ended his line. He was the heir to The Most Noble House of Shafiq which could have risen to Ancient and Most Noble status had he lived long enough. He died at the age of 19 when he was travelling after Hogwarts but Moody once told her that he knew next to nothing about the muggle world but he never hated them. He had no idea why he joined Gellert, he suspected that he was in the wrong place and joined out of fear.

Hermione had a lot of information on the war with Gellert, she had researched it to death during their sixth year while Harry was getting his so called lessons from Dumbledore, Hermione had searched for answers from the past. She hoped to get some ideas that she could adapt to her in the war that they were facing and Moody was happy to tell her about the war, everything that he had learned from his own father who helped Dumbledore during the war with Gellert.

She had plans for the Shafiq heir but first he needed to grow up and he needed to stay in Britain, not go travelling again. The loss of the house of Shafiq which was usually neutral had impacted negatively on the British population and they needed allies so why not take a page from Dumbledore and influence the next generation. There was no way that they were going to force anyone to take any path unlike the old man but if they gave the information and people decided to act on it then that was their choice. People learned about the world in school and it inspired the path that their life would take, she hoped to get the next generation to understand how broken the British system was, so that they would choose to stay and fix the mistakes.

There was also the fact that with muggle studies as a core class for all magical children then there would have to be a magical relations class for all muggleborn and muggle raised students. She could not wait an entire year for that change, they needed the old ways followed and the only that would happen was if the muggle raised understood why the rituals were created and what they were for, the class was a mash up of history, religion and etiquette. It gave a broad overview of how the society worked and why it worked the way it did and there was no way that she wasn’t going to make Hadrian start with those two changes.

The fact that the old ways were not banned yet were a blessing, it was something that Dumbledore got passed in the late 1930’s about a year or so before Marvolo went to school and it was another reason so many purebloods were flocking to him by that time. They had plans to introduce more classes next year based on how the muggle/magical studies classes went and she was determined for it to happen this year. Hadrian only had a month before the school opened and so he presented the case to the board and it passed, after an hour long argument, the darker families gave in mostly because of the idea of a magical class. None of them could really argue about it anymore, they were getting what they wanted, muggleborns and muggle raised were being taught their traditions and in return their children had to learn about muggles from a muggleborn for two years, it wasn’t a bad deal.

Hermione was still unsure about Marvolo, while Hadrian was busy with the board of governors she was trying to terms with the boy she was seeing and the cruel, psycho she had known as an adult. She had not faced the Dark Lord, not the way Hadrian had done. Hadrian faced him as an insane teenager in second year and she was paralyzed in the infirmary at the time. In fourth year, she still hadn’t seen him, he murdered Cedric and dueled Hadrian but she still had not faced him, in fifth year she was bleeding to death in the Ministry as Dumbledore dueled him, she hadn’t seen him nor had she faced him. In their seventh year during the battle, it was the first time she had finally put a face to the monster with her own eyes, she had seen him in Hadrian’s memories but when she had seen him, standing on the battlefield, he had fit the part of the monster perfectly. She hadn’t thought of him as a human for a long time and when she finally did see him with her own eyes, he had lived up to his reputation of being a monster, a snake faced, vile, evil human being that didn’t deserve to live anymore.

It was also the reason why she told Hadrian that it would be best if she was the one who had been deaged, Hadrian had lived a lie almost his entire life and for so long he blamed all that evil on Voldemort and in the end even when he believed that he was no longer a puppet, he found only betrayal. She on the other hand, Voldemort was a monster under the bed that the hero killed, Tom Riddle was just another kid to her, she knew about his past mentally but she was a well-loved child, she didn’t understand the pain of neglect, hunger and vulnerability but Hadrian did.

He knew both Voldemort and Tom Riddle too well and she didn’t believe that he would have been able to separate the two in his own mind. She couldn’t see the monster from her nightmares in the young boy in front of her but she could admit that the boy was not normal. She knew that people who had a higher IQ often suffered from personality disorders. The fact was that if one part of their brain over worked then the other part would under work. She didn’t think that Marvolo would ever be a normal child who understood emotions, he would always feel different.

Severus Snape was someone else that she saw a lot of in Marvolo. Severus was highly intelligent and saw no need for his appearance to reflect anything other than it was, he probably suffered a more minor disability but the fact was that he couldn’t recognize and understand emotions very well. It was something that she had a problem with as well when she had been younger however it wasn’t as severe and with enough time she had come to understand her emotions and those of the people around her, by the time she reached Hogwarts she already understood that her intelligence had made her different and that her peers would never understand her, that they would never think in the same manner and she made peace with that and having Harry and Ron who accepted it even though they didn’t understand had helped, now they needed to do the same thing for Marvolo.

She wasn’t going to be enough, mentally she was an adult and she could understand him but he needed more people, a couple of friends who were different from him but still cared for him. He needed to see how different people could be and how their differences didn’t make them weak and he needed to learn patience, dealing with different people who felt deeply and he needed to try and understand their emotions and even if he still didn’t completely understand then he needed to learn to accept it. They needed to have him experience more emotions and have him deal with them in a manner that didn’t result in him casting curses and for that they needed to announce Marvolo in society and have him meet other magical children.

She sighed, Hadrian was going to throw a fit, he still hated society balls and parties and the fact that they were announcing and heir to the founders meant that they had no choice but to throw something extravagant. She closed her eyes and tried not to wince at the thought of the preparation that they were going to have to put into this and she really hoped that Hadrian didn’t mind the fact that it would probably be the last event of the season before Hogwarts started.


End file.
